July 29, 2004
On this day, the universe repeated one of its rarest tricks: it arranged dust, light, memory, and possibility into a person no equation...
Melas Chasma
Birthday · July 29, 2004
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APOD published July 29, 2004. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Steep cliffs drop into the rugged terrain of Melas Chasma in this stunning view from the Mars Express spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet. At a scale of 16 meters per pixel, the image data from the orbiter's High Resolution Stereo Camera offers evidence that volcanic activity, water, wind erosion and marsquakes may all have shaped the region. Melas Chasma lies along the central southern edge of the large Valles Marineris, the grand canyon of Mars. While the Valles Marineris is itself over 4,000 kilometers long and up to 10 kilometers deep, the region pictured spans about 70 kilometers. The floor of Melas Chasma seen here is several kilometers below the surrounding plateau.